REVIEW: Well, as I speculated at the end of my review of book one, Darkness Falls, the characters in book two benefited enormously from having been given a 100 page head start in book one. Maisie and Steve don’t require nearly as much time to rev up their motors – only about 20% of the book, rather than 68%, as in book one. The plot is better constructed, too, and things make a bit more sense in the second installment of this series. Book three is planned for June of 2014, and my guess is that it will feature Harlen Fawkes, a Chimera Marshal first introduced in book one. It’s anyone’s guess who his romantic interest might be.

Lay Me Down is a bit shorter than book one, but the characters accomplished pretty much everything they’d set out to do. The only real issue is that we still don’t know just what the circumstances of Steve’s childhood were. Supposedly that will be wrapped up in book three, since presumably this is tied to the big reveal about the main villain of the piece.

On the whole, the series thus far is entertaining enough, with the occasional spark of witty dialogue or brief flurry of action to liven up the journey. If you’re thrilled by the idea of dream walkers, though, nothing compares to Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dream Hunters, who are part of her Dark-Hunter universe. She sets the bar pretty high there, but be warned: once you set foot in her world, you might never want to return.

REVIEW: The premise of this novella was what drew me in. I have a long love/hate relationship with dreams, and have given lucid dreaming a try in an effort to control my own nightmares. So I wasn’t really surprised when this story bore little resemblance to actual methods of lucid dreaming. It’s fiction, after all, right? Dreams are complex and nebulous things that have eluded understanding for as long as humans have been dreaming. Therefore, it’s forgivable that there seems to have been little to no research into the mechanics of dreams. Forgivable, but disappointing.

What’s less forgivable, though, is the short shrift these poor characters receive. The heroine is a cardboard cutout up until 68% of the way through the story. It takes that long for her personality to emerge, but when it does emerge, she’s witty, sassy, and thoroughly likeable. What a shame she wasn’t present for the entire story. The hero shows up on page one as a sinister character who seems as nebulous as the dreams he polices. Is he sliding down into madness? Is he trapped in a job that makes him one of the bad guys? What is he hiding from, his…boss? coworker? friend? There’s even a sly suggestion that he bats for both teams – not that being bisexual would have thrown me, but why even mention that guys find him as attractive as girls do, if we’re not going to get at least a hint of M/M action? Sure enough, though, he perks up around the same time the heroine does, just in time for a charming physical interlude that, while not quite sweet, was pretty mild in comparison with much of the contemporary romance genre.

The fact that I genuinely liked these characters when they finally showed up in their own story is the only reason I plan to read the second installment of the series. One hopes that, having spent 100 pages laying the groundwork, Maisie and Steve just might deign to pop up in living color from the beginning of their own story.

REVIEW: From the moment I began this book, I was completely blown away. Alex and Damon captivated me from page one. The story flows smoothly, and is told with a delicacy of touch that testifies to the author’s deep affection for this couple. The disenfranchisement of anyone who does not fit within a narrowly defined model of behavior is hardly a new topic, but this story treats the issue with a fresh perspective, and I enjoyed it immensely. I’m upset that Amazon and Goodreads only allow for five stars in their rating systems. I need more stars! Do yourself a favor and read this book. Why do I love it so much? Read on.

Gender identification is a tangled and murky road, even for those who have no choice but to tread it. But the message here is not limited to the gender issue. One of the things I love best about this story is that it doesn’t pretend that it’s only those who struggle with gender identity who suffer from prejudice. Many of the people I know deal daily with the struggle between being themselves and toeing an arbitrary line laid down by the ubiquitous powers that be – will they lose their children if someone finds out they’re gay? When others at work openly wear a cross or a Star of David, do they dare risk their job by wearing a pentagram? We like to think we live in a society in which certain civil liberties are guaranteed. It may not be illegal to be queer, but legality often plays second fiddle to the reality of certain prejudices. Things like love and faith should be intensely personal issues, but we live in a society in which the prevailing attitude is still, “My way or the highway.” And “my way” is straight and Judeo-Christian. If you’re not just like everyone else, your family, job, housing, and even your life could be forfeit. The injustice heaped upon the hero/ine of this book after s/he is victimized by her own family feels all too familiar to me.

That’s what makes this such an important book, and part of what sets it apart from this writer’s other work – at least, as much of it as I’ve read. Everything I’ve read from L.A. Witt has been entertaining, sexy, clever, and witty (pun inescapable). She has an exceptional grasp of her craft, producing some of the best examples of erotic romance I’ve read, whether alone or with one of her writing partners. She’s prolific and talented. But this book stands out. I’ve read some unfavorable reviews. People have different tastes. Still, this book rises beyond mere entertainment or escapism. It is important. Reading Static has expanded my understanding of gender and its role in our culture. And it’s done so in the same clever way so many social issues were aired in Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone series, and Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek franchise. Call it science fiction, fantasy, alternate reality, and you can get people to listen, catch them when they’re open to feel the true impact of your message. That’s not trickery. That’s good writing. Good writing entertains, educates, enlightens. Excellent writing does it in such a way that you don’t even realize it’s happening. Static is excellent writing.

But don’t take all this to mean that the book is one long diatribe against discrimination. This is a love story, driven by vibrant characters struggling with real problems. And while many of Ms. Witt’s books feature an abundance of steamy eroticism, Static contains only one truly erotic scene – albeit a fairly long one. I recently read a review of one of her books in which the reviewer complained that she preferred less angst in her porn. I don’t know about Ms. Witt, but I was offended by the comment. The difference between porn and erotica is fairly simple: a recitation of sexual acts that contains little or no plot or character development is porn, while erotica is an otherwise complete story containing explicit sexual acts which drive or enhance the plot. As usual, Ms. Witt writes a beautifully balanced erotic romance starring sympathetic characters and a plot that, while it contains some fantasy elements, is absolutely relevant to modern society.

I felt as if I knew Alex and Damon. Their story touched me on several levels, and I was rooting for them all the way. Thank you, Ms. Witt, for penning this wonderful tale. And thanks, also, to Riptide, who provided a copy for the purpose of an honest review.

REVIEW: I have a habit of highlighting favorite passages in my Kindle books. My copy of Daylight Again looks like a patchwork quilt, with all the color-coded highlights and notes and bookmarks. I got hooked on S.E. Jakes’ Extreme Escapes, Ltd. universe when I received a copy of Catch A Ghost from a publisher in exchange for an honest review. Of course, I immediately fell in love with Prophet and Tommy. Long Time Gone cemented the feeling, and I’ve gone on to read the rest of the EE, Ltd. books, as well as the Men of Honor series, in which Prophet (yay!) makes the occasional appearance.

Prophet is one of those characters who just gets under your skin from page one. Irascible, contrary, impatient, damaged, loyal, determined, sarcastic, sexy, plagued by PTSD, flashbacks, and what could politely be termed a dysfunctional family background, Prophet is a heroic figure who can’t see himself as a hero and doesn’t believe he deserves anything good in his life. He met his match in Tom, a handsome Cajun whose childhood memories could rival Prophet’s for their nightmarish qualities, and who believes himself to be a good-for-nothing jinx who can only get his partners killed and is better off alone. Together, these men are beyond hot, downright combustible, sweet and raw and raunchy, and oh-so-perfect for each other.

Do you have to read the first two books before reading Daylight Again? Hmm, I guess not. But why would you want to skip any of this wild ride? If you want the fullest enjoyment, read all of the EE, Ltd. books before tackling this one. I highly recommend them, though you will most likely experience some frustration along the way. I know I did. Keep in mind that these stories are all works-in-progress, with more to come in the (blessedly) near future.

While some of the endings have led me to rant impatiently (most notably Dirty Deeds), the ending of Daylight Again was everything an avid fan could desire. I went into it knowing that there were two more Prophet and Tommy stories to come, so I expected some threads to be left dangling. The ending here was a big reveal that I saw coming a while back, so I got to enjoy a moment of smug satisfaction. I believe I even exclaimed, I knew it! even though no one else was in the room. What can I say? I really get into this universe and all of the incredible men who inhabit it.

As I’ve come to expect, this book was free of errors – grammatical or spelling – and an absolute, pure, undiluted pleasure to read. If you enjoy an erotic M/M story with plenty of suspense and action (of all kinds) and tons of biting wit, smart ass replies, moments of self-doubt, steadfast loyalty, death threats, tattoos, sexy piercings, mercenaries with disabilities, tandem parachute drops, two men who will do anything to protect each other, and tropical drinks with those cute umbrellas and big straws, I’m pretty sure you’ll love this book, too.

REVIEW: Okay, hats off to the author for having the guts to take on such a difficult topic in the first place. As is reflected in several of the reviews posted elsewhere, this is a setup guaranteed to generate strong negative feelings in many readers. Although I have to say I was floored by the number of postings I’ve read from people who refused to even read the book. They don’t like to read about characters who are having problems with their relationships. They don’t like to read about the ex coming up pregnant and putting further stress on the relationship. Or – my personal favorite – they don’t want their porn diluted with so much angst. You know what? That’s probably why this author writes M/M erotica, not M/M porn. I’ve read several of Witt’s books, though not the Tucker Springs series, until this one. Frankly, Tucker Springs is priced out of my budget for books of this length (150 – 220 pages). It’s Complicated was provided to me for reviewing purposes, and I’ll admit, I had to grit my teeth and put on my professional hat before starting this one.

Sure, it’s easier and more fun to read about the first flush of new love – the heat, the passion, the intoxicating and near-constant state of arousal. It’s fun while it’s happening to you, too. But we don’t live our lives in this frenzy of new love. Having been married for fifteen years, I have a front row seat to the way day-to-day life grinds down the sharp highs of romantic love. If we’re lucky, though, it mellows into a sustained heat that is rarer than new love. Rarer, even, than unicorns in this world where people tend to bail at the first hint that they might actually need to work at maintaining a relationship. As a mother, I can tell you that raising kids is the hardest job I can imagine. It’s also the most rewarding. Nothing of value comes to us without working for it. I fell in love with my husband the night I met him, and he felt the same way from the very beginning. But I can guarantee that if we’d just trusted that things would always come easily, we wouldn’t have lasted three years, let alone fifteen. And while L.A. Witt does write some pretty hot sex, this is by no means porn. Her sex scenes advance the story, whereas porn is simply sex for it own sake, with little to no character development or contribution to plot or pacing.

That said, there were some slow spots in the middle of the book that made me somewhat impatient for the story to move on. On the whole, I liked the ability to hear each character’s perspective on events (via alternating POV from chapter to chapter), and the writer managed to avoid merely retelling each event from both points of view ad nauseum. At times it was difficult to feel sympathy for Christine, the ex-wife, though I think she was intended to be a sympathetic character. That’s not too far from real life, though, where even the people we love can be the source of enormous stress and negativity.

This is a well written book, and I don’t think it’s revealing a spoiler to say that the happy ending is made all the more believable because of the problems these people have endured. If you’re looking for fun and fluffy, this isn’t the book for you. If you enjoy heartier fare, this might be a good fit for you.

REVIEW: I’ve read a handful of Witt and Voinov’s books, both those written individually and together, and there hasn’t been one I didn’t like. As a reviewer, I have the opportunity to select which titles I’ll read for review, so maybe I’m just good at predicting what authors I’ll like. Whatever the reason, most of the titles I’ve read since signing up to write reviews professionally rather than just for my own pleasure have turned out to be great finds for me. I’ve chosen to read authors who are new to me, and that’s how these two writers came to my attention.

Witt and Voinov are a great team. Their stories are always engaging, and their characters tend to be the sort who stick around in your thoughts even after turning the last page. In Hostile Ground, Mahir/Saeed is an undercover cop who, in the course of his investigation, meets the enigmatic Ridley. As his boss, Ridley holds the key to a successful sting for Mahir, and their undeniable physical attraction makes it all too easy for Mahir to stay close to Ridley – and his secrets.

This could have been just another enemies-turned-lovers trope, but Witt and Voinov make this commonly used device their own, adding enough fresh elements to make the story feel new and innovative. And, as usual, the sex is smoking hot. Ridley has an intense, dominant nature that brings out a submissive streak in Mahir that he’s never before experienced. He’s always considered himself a top who bottoms occasionally just for grins.

Any further commentary on their relationship will give away too much of the fun, I’m afraid, so I’ll leave it at that. The secondary character of Kinza, Mahir’s nephew, was fun, if a bit predictable. As the mother of a teenage son, I compliment the writers on their ability to bring to life the amazing ability of teenagers to be totally selfish and scatterbrained one moment, and completely together and responsible the next.

To help you decide whether this is the book for you, I will say that I enjoy the Market garden series, another collaboration by these writers, and L.A. Witt’s Static. If you liked any of these, you’ll probably like Hostile Ground, though it is a good bit grittier than the Market Garden books. If you’ve never read any of their books, but enjoy steamy stories about undercover cops who find love in unexpected places, I can’t think of a single reason you wouldn’t love this book.